DOT HIN's vs Manufacturers HIN's

Boat Check WA does trailer boat inspections and hull identification numbers (HIN's) in the Perth metro area and Mandurah.

We get a few calls from people who are confused about the HIN on their boat and most have usually been given poor advice on a Facebook group or similar, so let us give you a crash course on the two most common types of HIN you will see on a trailer boat in Australia.

HIN's became compulsory in WA for boats manufactured or imported from February 2001 onwards. It also became compulsory to have a HIN on any boat that needed to be registered or have the registration transferred after that date.

There are 2 types of HIN that are legal in Australia. They are the 14 digit HIN and the US 12 digit manufacturers HIN. We wont worry about the US HIN today, we will just go through the more common 14 digit HIN's.

If you look at the image, you will see two HIN plates. The top one is a WA Department of Transport HIN plate and the bottom one is a boat manufacturers HIN plate.

Department of Transport (DOT) plate

- This HIN plate is supplied by the DOT and affixed by HIN providers. It is fitted when a boat that does not have a manufacturers HIN affixed needs to be registered or the rego needs to be transferred after the boat is sold.

- The DOT HIN plate does not contain a code for the year the boat was built or first registered.

The breakdown of the data on a TWA (Transport WA) HIN plate provided in the image is as follows:

- AU: Code for Australia

- TWA: Transport Western Australia

- 021560: The unique, sequential serial number code used by the DOT

- AQ: the HIN providers 2 letter code (Boat Check WA is GG)

- 3: the year the HIN plate was affixed (in this case, 3 for 2013)

The DOT HIN plate can be fitted to any boat that doesn't have a manufacturers HIN or has a non compliant on non registered overseas HIN.

An example of how the DOT HIN plate works is as follows:

- Justin buys a registered 1989 Baron Sportsman off his elderly neighbor, Fred. He has owned the boat from new. It doesn't have a 14 digit HIN on the builders plate, so when Justin tries to transfer the boat rego into his name, he is told by the staff at the licencing centre he has to get a HIN affixed to the boat by a HIN provider before he can transfer the rego. Justin then contacts Boat Check WA, as we are his local provider. We attend Justins premises and check the boat for an existing HIN. It doesn't have one, so we then check & copy Justin's ID and also check for proof of ownership. Justin's neighbour didn't give him a receipt for the boat, but he did complete and sign the rego transfer papers, as did Justin. The signed and dated rego transfer papers are acceptable proof of ownership, so we then complete a HIN application form with Justin and he pays the prescribed HIN application fee and Boat Check WA's travel fee. We then measure the boat length and write that down along with the motor serial number, brand and HP on the HIN application form. We then complete a HIN certificate with the new DOT HIN, boat details and hidden plate location. Once that is done, the DOT HIN plate is riveted to the transom just below the gunwale on the starboard side, whilst a second identical HIN plate is hidden inside the boat, with the location noted on the HIN certificate. The pink copy of the HIN certificate is handed to Justin and he attends his local DOT licencing centre, with his transfer papers, the pink HIN certificate, his ID and the registration transfer fee and the DOT staff then lodge his paperwork and give him a new registration certificate for the boat in his name.

Remember - A TWA HIN plate doesn't have the boat year in the number or letter sequence!

Boat Manufacturers HIN Plate

People and businesses who build recreational boats for sale are required to register with the DOT to issue HIN's on the boats they build. They use a 14 digit HIN similar to the DOT plate, but it has some key differences.

The breakdown of the data on a boat manufacturers HIN plate provided in the image is as follows:

- AU: Built in Australia

- ALY: The boat manufacturers code (in this case, its Allycraft)

- 18251: The boat manufacturers own generated sequential serial number

- I: This letter is the code for the month the boat was built (in this case, I is September)

- 6: This is the year the boat was manufactured (in this case, it is 2006)

- 06: This is the model year for the boat. If the boat is built in December for instance, it may not get to the dealer and be sold by the end of the year, so the boat manufacturer can mark the following year as the model year (in this case, its marked as a 2006 model year, same as the manufacture year)

So with a manufacturers HIN, you can tell the month of manufacture, year of manufacture and also the model year of the boat.

The boat manufacturer is required to have the HIN that they have issued for their boat either stamped, welded or molded to the starboard side rear area of the boat, or they can affix a HIN plate of their own design in the same area (like the plate in the image). They are also required to have the HIN listed on the builders plate, which can also be a sticker. The manufacturers aren't required to have a hidden HIN plate or sticker.

Once a boat has a HIN number, either a DOT HIN or a manufacturers HIN, that HIN stays with the hull for life and can not be legally removed or modified. The HIN plate and builders plate can be removed for boat repairs and refinishing, but they must be refitted after the work is complete.

We hope this was useful and highlights the differences in the two types of 14 digit HIN's.